Determination

I decided today that I want to try to stand up with braces on my legs and to operate a motorized wheelchair - again.   I did it many years ago and then stopped trying because I had no reason to succeed.  It was hard work - for what? I felt my mom just wanted me to do it.  NOW, since I have become an author of children's books, I want to do it!  I can see better (new glasses) so I, hopefully, will not be running into walls all the time and I have a new hip abduction pillow that lets me sit up straighter without pain in my hips! With God's help, and maybe a few prayers from my friends, I will succeed.

In the Valleys I Grow

Sometimes life seems hard to bear; full of sorrow, trouble and woe.
It's then I have to remember, that it's in the valleys I grow.
If I always stayed on the mountain top, and never experienced pain,
I would never appreciate God's love, and would be living in vain.

I have so much to learn, and my growth is very slow,
Sometimes I need the mountain tops, but it's in the valleys I grow.
I do not always understand, why things happen as they do,
But I am sure of one thing, my Lord will see me through.

Forgive me, Lord, for complaining, when I'm feeling very low,
Just give me a gentle reminder, that it's in the valleys I grow.
Thank you for the valleys, Lord, for this one thing I know:
The mountain tops are glorious, but it's in the valleys I grow.

(author unknown)

My mother's vacation

She just got back from spending 4 days on a cruise and read to me this poem she wrote when she got back:

MY CRUISE
To go on a cruise was a very wise choice
With all my senior friends, I loved to rejoice.
I am now relaxed, refreshed and refortified
I was waited-on, entertained and beautified!
When the cruise was over and we had to leave
No one, I'm sure, would have thought to believe
We'd get stuck riding in an unsafe chartered bus,
Then be stranded 'til another one could rescue us.
I was impressed to see the love of one for another
As though each person was a real sister or brother.
So many trying to help fill each others needs...
God’s little helpers - waiting to do good deeds.

News Article

Check out the article that was written in the Florida Times Union about Jewels and her books.